St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-16
1T Is GAMBLING.
Chaplain Brooks Says This is Re-
sponsible for More Criminals
Than Rum.

SpOnShDie IOr more CRIMINALS
Than Rum.
The pulpit of the First Methodist
church was occupied last night by Rev.
E. G. Brooks, chaplain of the Colorado
penitentiary. Mr.. Brooks delivered his
lecture I'm Prison Walls" interesting
throughout and full of valuble teachings
on the cause of crime aud its preven-
ton. Mr.. Brooks reviewed his work
among convictS briefly, and gave glow
ing account of the prosperity, morally
and mentally, of those with whom he
has had to deal. The most hardened
criminals, he contends, can be converted
into honest men if properly handled.
Speaking on the causes leading to crime
he said:
1t is well established fact that the
thought of the mother impresfeS itself
upon the unborn child. If the mother
regards the coming one with a feeling
OF dislike, akin to hate, and feels that it
will be care and burden, and if as the
babe comes it is unwelcome, in 30 cases
out of 100 such child, as it gives evil
dence of the dawning of intellect, is apt
to be peeyiSh and irritable in it's dispo-
sition-a disposition leading to the com
mission of crimes. On the other
lCG IuC lOOh 1OTWuTU 10Y
full to the coming of the child, and it
will be bright, cheerful, happy child.
Here can be found the solution. 1t is
in the reading and thought with which
the mother feeds her intellect while the
little child's brain and thinking appar-
atuS is being formed. Let the mother
read in the daily newspapers the dis
gushing details of criminal trials, and of
filthy scandals, and as the mind of the
child begingS to unfold it will naturally
run in those channels. do not wonder
when l see the stuff find
UPON THE CENTER TABLES
in Christian houses, that from Christian
homes so many times come forth those
who bring down the gray hairs of the
father i'll sorrow to the grave, and leave
the mother broken-hearted under the
burden of the load upon her.
Another cause of crime is the disre-
gard for law. | find its solution in the
home. Hatred of authority is engen-
dered by cruelty and undue severity.
Let the father be unjust to the child
and it hates the law of the father. and
it is then very natural to hate the law of
the land.
L am sometimes asked what is the
great cause of crime. Of course, every
body expects me to answer, 1.-The liqnor
traffic" do not answer that the use
of Intoxicating liquors is not great
source of crime, but after being shut in
the penitentiary for two years, and
yictS, l state that the most prolific
source of crime to-day in the United
States, is the gambling habit. Did you
ever know a gambler that would
not deliberately violate = the rights
of his fellow man? They could
not succeed and make money and
fleece the unSuSpecting unless they
took what did not belong to them. |
am not apolOgizing for the liquor traffic,
but | do not believe in laying on one
shoulder of the devil burdens that be-
long on the other.
Still another. Society is wrong in es-
timating man by his wealth instead of
his real worth. If a young man wants
to move i'll society nowadays he has got
to have money. If he is poor, society
has no use for him. The young man
who has no money and wants to get into
society, says: mo matter how L get
mOney-if | have to steal it." and crime
comes as result of this false basis upon
which to estimate men.
Again, the responsibility lies at the
doors of wives and mothers and sisters.
When pure wOmanhood demands of the
young man the same purity that the
men demand in woman, then, and not
till then, will vice and immortality and
RIGHTEOUSNESS be largely stayed. The
young man who is not willing to stand
upon the same plane of social purity
that he demands woman to stand upon,
is not fit to associate with pure woman
hood. If he claims to himself the privi-
lege of INDUCING vices which his very
soul would abhor if his sister or wife in
dulged, he is not fit to go in the company
of pure wOmanhood
and although his lecture was trifie
longer than the usual Service-lasting
till 10 o'clock kept the large congre-
CATION thoroughly attentive throughout.